Trapped
by Himegimi-chan
Summary: What was Draco doing while trying to fix the Vanishing Cabinet during his 6th year at Hogwarts? Read on...
1. Prologue

_This work of fiction was written purely for the writer's pleasure and her friends and it doesn't intent to be anything special or original.__  
__**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter (except for the books and some trinkets)^^_  
_Spoilers:_ Book 6

It was extremely stuffy and dusty in the Room of Requirements. In fact it was so dusty, that soon his perfectly clean black robe turned into a dirty shade of grey if there's such a color. Draco Malfoy looked around.

The room was full of useless junk that was probably dumped here by house-elves. Big and nasty dumpster room… disgusting…filthy… He was getting sick of coming back here ever so often trying to figure out how to fix the bloody piece of furniture that will allow his comrades to enter the school. But were they really his comrades? He didn't know… All he ever wanted in his life was to be someone. Not because of his father or his family, but on his own. He wanted to do something great by himself, something that will earn him respect and maybe fear. Yes, he wanted to be feared.  
But now more than anything he wanted his father back; he wanted their dignity and power, and most importantly- safety- back.

That's why he almost begged for the assignment. That's why he wanted so much to fix the damned thing… However, it wasn't going too well. No matter how hard he tried, it still remained useless piece of junk. And it was driving Draco crazy… Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night cold sweat dripping from his forehead, his clothes clinging to his body. He lost his appetite, couldn't concentrate on his lessons, even stupid Potter didn't matter anymore. Occasionally after fruitless attempts he would come and cry in his quiet desperation on the bathroom floor, face buried in his hands, not caring about being watched by the ghost girl. It didn't matter, nothing mattered anymore.

Except for one thing. That black cabinet became a fixation.

Draco nervously breathed out and made his way towards the Vanishing Cabinet.  
"Here we go again…" he whispered tightening his grip on the wand in his pocket. His hand was shaking.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Hello everyone! Well, I was planning to keep what now is a prologue as a one-shot, but it looks like I am going to make a story out of it.**_

_**The events take place during Book 6 ("Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince") and are described from Draco's perspective. What he was doing during his 6**__**th**__** year besides trying to fix the Vanishing Cabinet. So! **_

_**I hope my story can slightly entertain you, even if just for a minute.**_

_**Reviews are nice, criticism is very welcome but please be constructive. **_

_  
__Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (except for the books and some trinkets)^^_

_**Now, on with the story!!**_

Draco was whispering spell after spell, waving his wand accordingly, just hoping that one of those spells could actually work. Thin veil of sweat was covering his forehead, but he didn't make any attempts to wipe it off. His concentration was so great that when there was a loud bang of the closing door, he didn't realize what had just happened. Then the realization dawned upon him- someone else was in the Room.

His eyes widened in horror and one thought was racing after another in his head.

"Has he been discovered? But how? Who? Snape? No, no it can't be him, he doesn't know unless he was able to find out from…"

Draco tightened his grip on the wand not sure whether he needed to hide or go and see who entered the room. Deciding upon the latter, he slowly started making his way towards the exit, making sure not to make any noise.

"Whew! That was close!" A sudden voice startled Draco, and by reflex his elbow knocked off the tall pile of old books that were sitting on the desk beside him. The books hit the floor loudly bringing a cloud of dust into the air from the dirty floor.

Draco couldn't help but quietly swear at his clumsiness.

"Is somebody here?" He heard the same voice inquiring loudly. Draco held his breath- if he doesn't move, maybe, just maybe he wouldn't be discovered. The Room of Requirements is huge, that person, whoever it was, may just think that it was nothing and go about their business. Fat chance!

He heard light footsteps approaching the place where he was standing. He was about to duck under the nearby desk, but at this second…

"Oh, hello there, I thought I heard somebody".

Draco turned and found himself looking at the girl who was wearing a robe with the Ravenclaw House crest on it.

"Who…"

"I am Kaie, Kaie Oberon from Ravenclaw's fifth year…"

"I don't care about your name or your house, what the hell are you doing here?"

Draco was regaining his attitude back at the rapid speed.

"The same thing you are,"- replied Kaie imperturbably. "And there is no need to be rude, you know. I don't think I've ever said anything to upset you".

The girl didn't look at least bothered at the fact of discovering someone else but her in the Room of Requirements.

She gave Draco a friendly smile and proceeded walking past him towards where the Vanishing Cabinet was.

"No!"

Before Draco could stop himself, he roughly grabbed the girl by her left arm, just above the elbow, and spanned her so now she was facing him.

His whole body was shaking with anger and fear- he was not going to let somebody like her discover his secret, his life and the lives of his family depended on it…

Kaie gave Draco quizzical look.

"You know, that actually hurts." She looked down at her arm, which was almost crushed under Draco's hand.

"I don't care, just get out of here and never come back, otherwise…"

"You are not threatening me by any chance, are you?"- asked the girl calmly.

"That's exactly what I'm doing. If you don't get out of here right now, I am going to hex you so bad, that your own mother won't recognize you".

"You know, I heard Slytherins are rude despite their aristocratic upbringing, but I didn't realize that the case is so bad…"

"Well, now you do, so get out of…"

"No".

Despite Draco's yelling, that was getting louder, her calm and quiet answer made him stop his screaming.

"No?" He repeated after her with incredulous look on his face. "You think you get to decide whether you can stay here or not? Listen, you…"

Draco's voice suddenly became so low, and sounded almost like a hissing.

"Would you please remove your hand? " The girl placed her right hand on top of Draco's and tried to unclench his fist.

At this moment Draco lost all of his composure.

"I said 'get out'!" He started dragging Kaie towards the exit.

"I'll leave, but what will happen when I come back with Mr. Filch and other teachers in tow? And have you looked at the clock, it's past midnight and you know the rule about students being out of bed at this time".

She said it as a matter-of-fact, looking completely undisturbed by Draco's actions.

Her last words made him stop in his tracks and turn to look at the girl more closely.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Why wouldn't I?" Kaie shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like you have some dirty secret on me or anything."

That was true. Draco didn't know a single thing about this girl; he didn't even remember seeing her before. But then again, he never paid attention to stupid Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs for that matter, except the times on the Quiddich field during the matches. Didn't she say she was from the fifth year?

Without thinking he released her arm.

"Thank you". Kaie rubbed her arm with her right hand.

"Listen, you really need to leave" Draco tried to reason with her.

"Listen, you really need to stop telling me what to do", Kaie mimicked Draco's hushed voice and then … she smiled.

Draco didn't expect that, anything but that. Being in despair for so long, spending summer vacation around Voldemort and his loyal Death Eaters, he didn't remember the last time he saw such a genuine smile. Wild and crazy grins of his aunt Bellatrix didn't count.

Draco turned away from Kaie.

"Listen. Here's the deal. Obviously you have something important here, otherwise you wouldn't act so… what's the word… nervous".

Draco didn't turn back around but the look of his tense back reassured Kaie that he was listening closely.

"And I… well, I have something important here too, that occasionally I need to…ehm… look at, so… Here's my proposition: I don't interfere with what you are doing and you don't interfere in my business. The last thing I need is for the teachers to find out. So, how about it?"

Kaie looked at Draco's back expectantly.

He slowly turned around and looked at the girl once again. She wasn't very tall; she had shoulder length dark blond hair and pale completion with big dark circles under her eyes. No wonder he hadn't noticed this girl before- she looked just like any other Ravenclaw.

"So?" Kaie pressed since Draco never gave her an answer.

"Listen, you don't understand" He said calmly. "You don't want to be here".

If anything, maybe he can try to appeal to her common sense.

"I am Slytherin, remember?"

"So?" Kaie looked unperturbed.

"Well, aren't we considered sly and evil by other Houses"?

"Rubbish! Innocent until proven guilty. That's what I'd like to think".

"So you are not afraid to be in the same room with me? Turning your back to me?"

"Why would I? You never did anything wrong, so…"

Draco rubbed his temples. This whole conversation was giving his a headache.

"So, can we agree already, because I really want to do what I came here for", - said Kaie impatiently.

Draco took a deep breath. "I'm going to regret this" he thought desperately.

"Ok, but if a single soul finds out, you will regret that …"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it" Kaie didn't let Draco to finish." How about we consolidate our promise with a handshake and then go about our business".

"You want to make an Unforgivable Vow?"

Draco couldn't believe his ears. This was serious, but then again- his mission was serious, he couldn't risk for anybody to find out about it.

"Might as well, since it's so important for us not to be discovered"- shrugged Kaie.

"Ok… well, wait, we can't do that…" Draco suddenly remembered. "We need a third person to seal the vow, and it's definitely not an option".

"Oh.. well, how about a regular handshake, it can represent a vow" suggested Kaie and stretched her right arm towards Draco.

He still had doubts… could he really trust her? No, he couldn't trust anybody, not in this… it was too important, too much was at stake. But he had no choice – the girl got him the minute she somehow managed to enter this room.

He stretched his right arm unwillingly.

"Not a single soul"- he said to Kaye.

"Don't worry, you can trust me". She took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. Her hand was cold compared to his sweaty one. But it didn't seem to bother her. She let go off his hand and smiled one more time.

"Well, now it's finally settled so I am going to do what I planned".

And she started going towards the spot where the Vanishing Cabinet was.

"Wait!" Draco called for her, realizing where she was going.

"Now what?" She turned to look at him looking slightly annoyed.

"Where are you going?"

"See that desk, not to far from that ugly old black cabinet?" she pointed with her finger. "My stuff is in there".

She resumed her walking with Draco right behind her.

"You… you need to move it somewhere else. My… my stuff is around that area, so…"

"Well, you can lift that desk and move it somewhere else, but be warned- it's not that easy- Levitating charm doesn't work on it, I tried. Looks like somebody glued the desk to that spot for life".

They already reached the desk that was just several meters away from the Vanishing Cabinet.

The desk was indeed very old and heavy. It was made what seemed like red sandalwood, with a lot of fancy inlaid work, and was probably a fine piece of furniture in the old days. But now it was all scratched up, dusty, full of junk on its top as well as inside the drawers. Kaie bent down and opened the bottom drawer and started rummaging though it, obviously looking for something.

Despite his anxiety, Draco was getting curious about Kaie's hidden object.

"Found it!"

Kaie put a thin metal object on the surface of the dusty desk.

Draco narrowed his eyes.

"What is it?"

Kaie, who already seated herself at the desk, looked up at him.

"Don't tell me you've never seen laptop before?"…

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hello everybody! I present to you Chapter Número Dos :) Hope you can enjoy it.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated; constructive criticism is more than welcome. **

_**Disclaimer:**__** I don't own Harry Potter (except for the books and some trinkets)^^**_

**Now, on with the story!!**

Waking up next morning was definitely a challenge for Draco, considering that he went to bed rather late. It also took him several hours to actually fall asleep- his troubled thoughts kept him awake.

As soon as he returned to his dormitory, he regretted making a deal with that Kaie girl. She was strange with that Muggle "laptop" thing. Draco didn't even bother to give her an answer when she asked him if he knew what a laptop was. He just turned around and left. The night was ruined and he still hadn't made any process in fixing the Cabinet.

Seriously, that girl is so stupid! He didn't care about anything what's got to do with Muggles and their ridiculous inventions. Knowing that he made a deal with her just because she was hiding that thing in the Room of Requirements made him mad. He kept tossing and turning in his bed, thinking about the way to cancel the agreement. He could probably offer her another hiding place. That "laptop" didn't seem like it would be heavy. It could perfectly be hidden behind one of the statues or even the bigger portraits. Heck, it could even be hidden under the bed! With these thoughts Draco managed to finally fall asleep only to wake up two hours later to get ready for breakfast in the Great Hall.

Grabbe and Goyle had already left- lately Draco had been ignoring them completely. It wasn't like he could ever confide in them. In fact, he never thought of them as friends. They were too simple-minded, too slow and extremely boring to be around. He didn't know why he "befriended" them in the first place six years ago. Probably because their fathers knew each other well since they shared the same devotion for Voldemort as well as being pure-bloods. The only thing Draco, Grabbe and Goyle had in common was bullying other students especially Potter and his gang. It was fun… up until now.

The only thing that mattered to Draco now was the Cabinet and Cabinet only. He was so preoccupied with it that he'd been skipping more classes than usual as well as not getting his homework done.

"I need to turn that Transfiguration assignment in or McGonagall will skin me alive", - though Draco darkly, while fixing his tie. He was almost out of the door when he caught a glance of himself in the mirror. Lack of sleep was definitely taking its toll- his skin looked paler than usual, there were dark circles under his eyes. Draco frowned at his reflection. For some reason his sick look reminded him of Kaie Oberon. He scowled at his reflection, mentally reprimanding himself again for the mistake he'd made.

After that he left the dormitory, closing the door silently behind him.

When Draco entered the Great Hall, the first thing that had gotten his attention was the loud laughter from the Ravenclaw table. He looked at the group of fifth year girls sitting in the middle of it, happily chatting away. Among them, there was Kaie Oberon, laughing her head off at some joke that her friend was telling her. She didn't look any different than how she did yesterday except for her hair, which was pulled back in a high pony tail.

Draco looked at her with great dislike before continuing walking to his table. Once he seated himself, he was immediately ambushed by Pansy Parkinson.

"Hey, Draco, you are late this morning. Grabbe and Goyle have already eaten and left for Transfiguration", - said Pansy, looking at him with poorly hidden adoration in her eyes.

"I overslept", - replied Draco grumpily, while reaching out and grabbing some toast off the nearby dish.

"Oh…" Pansy couldn't come up with anything better to say.

Draco was about to start eating when he heard that loud and obnoxious laugher from the Ravenclaw table again.

"What's up with them?"- He muttered, looking annoyed.

"They have been like that all morning", - said Pansy looking at the source of the noise. "Those fifth year Ravenclaw brats. Think they own the place".

Draco looked at Pansy who was observing Ravenclaw table with pure hate on her face.

"No, seriously. It's so annoying, not to mention it's ill-mannered. That Oberon brat should know better".

Draco, who just took a bite off his toast, chocked at the mentioning of that name.

"Are you alright?" Pansy immediately switched her attention back to chocking Draco.

"I am fine", - he said wiping his mouth with the napkin.

He needed to get hold of himself; he couldn't react like that in front of everybody. He was already attracting attention as it was on the daily basis, with being Malfoy and the fact that he father was in Azkaban for treason.

Draco forced a smile. "I am fine. Food just went down a wrong pipe. I am sorry, what were you saying about Ober-what's-her-face?"

If anything, Draco knew how to change the course of a conversation without exposing himself too much. It took years of practices, of course.

"Don't you know? She is actually one of us… By 'one of us' I mean she's a pure-blood", - added Pansy hastily, noticing Draco's quizzical look.

"And?"

"Well, that's it. Her family is not that rich, not like ours, obviously, but her parents both work in the Ministry, not sure what department exactly. So, I guess she is well-provided for."

Pansy shot another angry glance at the Ravenclaw table.

"Is that it?" Draco sounded somewhat disappointed; he was hoping to find something more interesting about Kaie, something he can threaten her with.

"Pretty much", - replied Pansy." Except for one thing. From what I've heard, her older brother is a Squib. Disgrace to the family, really. I still can't believe that he didn't get disowned with the family being pure-blood and all. I think he still lives in the Magical community with his parents somewhere in London, and goes to Muggle work".

"I see…,"- said Draco, quickly glancing at the Ravenclaw table too. He saw that Kaie had already finished her breakfast and was checking inside of her bag for something. Suddenly she lifted her head up and her eyes met with Draco's. She smiled at him but quickly broke the eye contact when one of her friends called her name.

Draco felt like if the cold water was thrown over him.

'_What the hell does she think she's doing?!'_

He looked apprehensively at Pansy next to him, praying that she hadn't noticed anything. Luckily, she'd already switched her attention to Blaise Zabini who apparently overslept too and was late for breakfast.

Draco didn't venture to look at Kaie again and instead decided to finish his breakfast.

He was going to have a serious talk with the girl, so things like that wouldn't happen again.

Draco left the Great Hall along with Pansy and Blaise, not participating in their conversation. He wasn't planning to come to Transfiguration today since he never completed his homework, and there was no way he was going to give McGonagall a pleasure to scold him in front of the whole classroom full of Gryffindors. Instead, he decided to go back to the Room of Requirements and work on the Vanishing Cabinet again.

He told Pansy and Blaise that he suddenly wasn't feeling good, so they could go on without him. After that, he turned around and pretended to head over to Hospital Wing, but half-way he changed his route and went towards the Seventh floor. Luckily, he hadn't met any teachers on his way since all the classes were about to start. When he reached the place where the Room's entrance supposedly was (opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet) and walked past it three times thinking hard of the Cabinet and its location. The door appeared out of nowhere on the wall, and Draco glanced over his shoulder for any shadowing before entering the room. The door disappeared like if it was never there.

When Draco reached the Cabinet, he was unpleasantly surprised to find Kaie Oberon, sitting at the old desk with her "laptop" open and pushing its numerous buttons at the rapid speed. The other part of the thing was brightly lit and it seemed that the letters were appearing on it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Draco, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Oh, good morning, Draco, I just popped in for a minute, I forgot that today is my friend's birthday and I need to send her a birthday card". Kaie didn't even look up while she was saying it.

"Stop joking around and get out of here, it's my turn to use the room". - Draco hissed, his fists clenching.

"I didn't know we had to regulate the time… And I am not joking," said Kaie absentmindedly, without stopping her typing.

"You can't possibly send letters with that thing; you think I am stupid?"

Kaie finally stop her typing and looked up at the boy.

"You know what the problem with the pure-blood wizards is?" She asked.

"No, what?" Draco didn't even bother to hide acid in his voice.

"Ignorance. Just because wizards have special abilities to perform magic doesn't mean that Muggles don't have their own abilities and knowledge too. Some of it is pretty amazing".

"What are you? Muggle defender or something? I didn't realize you fell as low as your brother Squib. In fact, you are even worse than that Weasley, at least his acquaintances are somewhat related to magic".

Draco was trying his best to hurt Kaie as much as possible with his words. Maybe that way she would never come back, so he could have the room for himself again.

"See, you just proved my words. You are just as ignorant as the majority. Haven't you heard that knowledge is power? But maybe it is for the better that wizards are so ignorant. Can't imagine what could happen if some of the things became known…" Kaie shuddered and moved her eyes back to the computer screen.

Draco didn't know what to say. He certainly didn't expect this kind of reaction from the girl. Usually when he insulted somebody, especially Potter, he would get retaliation just as bad as his insults, but Kaie didn't even seem to get angry. She had already gone back to pushing those little buttons again.

"But you were lying when you said that you can send letters with this thing". Malfoy was not going to give up easily and be fooled like that. "Everybody knows that you send mail by owls."

"Well, of course, but you see, I don't really like to wait. It takes at least a day for the owl to get to London to deliver my letter, but with the computer it only takes several seconds", - replied Kaie.

"Rubbish".

Draco came closer to the desk. Indeed there was text of congratulation written across laptop's screen.

"It's true. Of course, you can't send parcels, but letters- easily!" Kaie typed the last sentence and clicked "Send" button on the screen.

"Well, if it's so easy then why do you have to come here to do it? This thing is small; you could easily do what you just did behind the bed's curtains in your dormitory". It seemed that there actually was a hope that Kaie wouldn't return to the Room of Requirements after all. Draco allowed himself a victorious smile.

Kaie shook her head. "Well, here's the problem. For me to use the laptop I need to have Internet connection, and it seems I can only get it in this room".

"Internet? What in the world is Internet?" Draco was getting more irritated by the minute.

Kaie seemed to be plunged deep in thought.

"It's kind of hard to explain. To put it simply, it's a global system that connects all the computers in the world".

"What's a computer?"

"This laptop is a computer. There are other computers too that look different but this particular one is called a laptop".

Kaie ran her fingers lovingly over laptop's glossy surface.

"Well, can't you get that system somewhere else? Why does it have to be here?" asked Draco another question.

"Well, in realty, in Muggle world, you have to have lots of cables and other equipment as well as electricity to connect to the Internet, but you can't find them in Hogwarts, obviously. I was really surprised when I got the connection in this room. Now I can stay in touch with everyone." She smiled happily at the thought.

"So what are you hiding here?" Her sudden change in topic made Draco tense.

"None of your business" He barked at her rather rudely. "Are you finished with… you letter?"

Once again Kaie seemed unfazed by his sudden burst of anger. She opened the bottom drawer of the old desk and stuffed her computer deep inside of it.

"Well, I see you around. Don't be late for class", - she said cheerfully as she started going towards the exit.

"Hey..." Draco called after her.

"Yes?" Kaie quickly turned around to face the blond haired boy.

"Never smile at me again".

**TBC**


End file.
